Abstract

The rapid spread of mobile phones has increased access to an enormous range of applications that are highly valued by urban and rural populations in developing countries. The diffusion of the mobile phone has been faster than any other information and communication technology in human history, but the capabilities for using this technology to its full potential have been slower to develop. Part of the explanation for this lies in the overwhelming emphasis on supply-side initiatives. Diffusion studies, including those focusing on the ‘bottom-of-the-pyramid’, can tell us about the take-up of mobile phones and some of the characteristics of use and of users, but they cannot tell us whether access to mobiles is contributing to poverty alleviation in developing countries. Although problems of access and cost continue to present barriers to take-up, mobile communication is providing a new basis for entrepreneurship and social innovation. However, the complex challenge of enabling people to acquire the knowledge essential for developing innovative applications that are responsive to their local needs has is being neglected. The necessary digital skills include operational expertise and an understanding of information structures when the mobile phone is used as a medium for communication. They also include information search and selection skills, communication and content creation skills, and strategic skills needed to use mobile phones in ways that support individual or professional goals. The widespread failure to acquire these abilities is limiting opportunities for empowerment through the use of mobile phones. This paper considers gaps in the existing evidence-base, examines disconnections between policy and practice, and highlights new opportunities for the development of digital capabilities for mobile phone-based entrepreneurship.

Nader Ale Ebrahim discuss about Virtual Teams and its application in New Product Development, R&D and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
"Virtual teams will became as important as Web to companies" (Nader Ale Ebrahim)”

A comprehensive definition of virtual teams may be taken as: small temporary groups of geographically, organizationally and/or time dispersed knowledge workers who coordinate their work, predominantly with electronic information and communication technologies in order to accomplish one or more organization tasks (Ale Ebrahim et al., 2009). Nowadays, this definition have gained popularity as found in Wikipedia (wikipedia, 2011). Virtual R&D team is a kind of virtual team that concentrate on the R&D tasks and projects (Ale Ebrahim et al., 2011).

Abstract

This article describes new perspectives in virtual teams’ collaboration, to underline the actual trends and to identify their future development. These will be used for product lifecycle projects management and to diminish/avoid risks, to harmonize team members’ competencies (compatibility issues) to attend success in project development. The tools used for communication and real time research-work will increase companies’ competitiveness by optimizing the resources dedicated to different projects, teams and management systems. To improve the productivity and to facilitate the communication between projects team members, the new approach of virtual teams is based on the use of complex software platforms to improve collaborative design, learning and work processes.

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About Me

Nader Ale Ebrahim has
a Technology Management PhD degree from the Department of Engineering
Design and Manufacture, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya
(UM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He holds a Master of Science in the
mechanical engineering from University of Tehran, Iran.